These are my good friends Caio and Luisa who live with their parents, Ubajara and Janice, in Brasilia. My mother
lived in their father's home when she was an exchange student in Brazil
in high school. I was able to visit them for a long weekend and it was great to relax and catch up with them! We went to the movies to see the new Superman movie (which I loved), many restaurants including one called American Prime, a party or two, and I got to see the governmental buildings in the center of Brasilia. It was nice to return after one year, see the newly completed World Cup soccer stadium which last year was only a skeleton, eat a strange fruit called Ata (it was really good!), and most of all to spend time with friends. Thank you so much for having me! Though it was hard to board the bus that I rode back to Goiania since it will probably be a while before I get to spend time with Luisa and Caio again, it was necessary. I have so many more things to do in Goiania and only two and a half more weeks in Brazil! I knew this would happen, but really, looking back, it does not seem like it was very long ago that I arrived.
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| Restaurant in Pontao (the Pier) in Lago Sul (South Lake, meaning the south side of the man-made lake in Brasilia) |
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| On the other side of the table with Caio...I had to sit on both sides for a little bit because both Caio and Luisa wanted to take pictures and to sit by me. It is great to be so loved! |
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| Luisa and I went to a fair called Picnic in the Botanical Gardens in Brasilia. It was so nice to see the gardens, which are beautiful, but it was even better to people watch and see all the handmade things people were selling. It was rather "hipster" if you will and sort of a throwback to the 1970s with the colors and styles of the things for sale. Also, some vendors used vans from that era as displays for their items! |
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| Luisa and I enjoying the pond in Brasilia's Botanical Gardens |
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| Ubajara and I back at Pontao to view the beautiful sunset |
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| The
next day, Luisa and I went to a birthday party for her friend that was
on the rooftop of an apartment building there. It is great because
Brasilia is much flatter than Goiania and so you can see way into the
distance, and can see the horizon. |
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| Ubajara, Caio and I |
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| Sushi with Caio for lunch! |
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| The Cathedral of Brasilia is a touristy place, but beautiful, and one of the many architectural creations of architect Oscar Niemeyer who designed Brasilia. My hair shows that the weather was windy (as per usual)! |
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| The Capitol buildings in Brasilia were also designed by Oscar Niemeyer. |
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| This is the new soccer stadium in Brasilia. It was finished this year for the World Cup that will happen here next year. If you can see the round building to the left of this stadium, that is the old soccer stadium! What a difference! |
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| What a great view of the city from the old TV Tower that is near the Capitol. |
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| This is the view of the city from the TV Tower. The shadow in the right of the photo is the shadow of the tower, the circular thing in the middle is a pond/fountain, and at the top you can see the Capitol building in the distance. This part of the city is the body of the airplane because the city of Brasilia was created in the shape of an airplane! |
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| I had a personal meet-and-greet with a member of the band Scalene, Gustavo. Scalene is a young rock band from Brasilia and Luisa and Caio are friends of the members. I went to a concert of theirs on my last visit to Brasilia and took their CD for my brother as a souvenir. He insisted that I buy all of their other CDs for him this time, so where better than the source! |
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| Aca fruit that I tried. The black things are large seeds that are really hard. You just eat the white pulp and spit out the seed. |
